Episode 23: Norman Duncan - The Innovator

Mill House Podcast

Mill House

Wilderness, Sports, Leisure, Education, Hobbies

5 • 973 Ratings

🗓️ 4 January 2021

⏱️ 79 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

A few years ago I was making a presentation in a Miami fly shop when a man came to me and introduced himself. “Hey Andy, I’m Norman Duncan.” Oh my God, I thought, here he is! I was so excited, really. Here was one of the disciples. Flip Pallot, Chico Fernandez, Little John Emery, and Norman Duncan were as important as anyone in South Florida to initially grow the sport of Saltwater Fly Fishing. This group of four were something to behold. They had heart, passion, and creativity to catch fish, but without the sufficient tools to support their fire. They designed everything they needed because there was nothing available, and many of their innovations are still used today. We know the story of Flip and Chico, they became rock stars in the fly fishing world. “Little John,” as Emery was known, passed at a young age from melanoma after putting his stamp on history. But where did Norman go? What happened to him? He was smart and ingenious, pushed and shoved as hard as the others, but he stepped aside and the iconic fame the others attained passed Norman by, even though we all know his name. Today, Norman brought us out back to his porch and gave us an inside look into his eventful life.

Transcript

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0:00.0	The fearsome forsome forsome of Flip Palat, Chico Fernandez, John Emory, and Norman Duncan
0:07.4	forced the early growing pains of saltwater fly fishing. You name it and they had a hand in on it. Little John, as he was known, died
0:16.2	at a young age after putting a stamp on history with his Emory reel. We all know what Flip and
0:21.8	Chico did. Their notoriety exploded. But what happened to Norman Duncan? Where did he go?
0:29.0	Well, he came up to me during a presentation I was making in Miami in 2018. Looked me in the eye, shook my hand and said,
0:36.8	I'm Norman Duncan. I gasped. The ghost was before me. Today is Norman's story.
0:44.0	We broke everything.
0:47.0	We broke everything, we broke lines lines we broke cooks we broke rods we broke our minds we broke
0:58.8	marriages we broke the whole thing we came up with the idea of going out that night and chasing girls and whoever had the biggest pair of pain he's when the pot.
1:10.0	I knocked another arrow and he turned around the other way and I shot him going through the other way so I double-lunged him both ways.
1:17.0	But it was nothing for us to paddle an air mattress out into government cut.
1:21.0	I got him on. All right now, I'm going to teach him a lot so I'm just an old guy
1:27.9	that likes to fish I'm not quitting yet and he said well who the hell do you think you are, Sue App?
1:34.0	And I said, that's exactly who I am.
1:37.0	Life's journey to the grave should not be one arriving with a pretty well-preserved body body but rather skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke
1:46.2	thoroughly torn out thoroughly used up proclaiming wildly! What a ride!
1:56.0	There's something fishy going on here. All right.
2:06.8	Press record and we are rolling.
2:10.4	We're rolling. We're rolling.
2:10.9	Well, Norma, thank you very much for allowing us to come to your home. Thank you for... It's a wonderful, wonderful home. Let me back up a little bit. Two years ago, when I was doing a symposium seminar, if you will, a PowerPoint presentation here in Miami,
2:27.2	a gentleman came up to me, introduced himself as Norman Duncan.
2:33.0	And I looked at you and I thought,
	...

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